My Dad Died From COVID (But Not Really)

I saw firsthand how COVID deaths are inflated

I remember seeing my dad’s death certificate for the first time. I stared at the cause of death. COVID-19. It felt sickeningly surreal. Not just because we were in the middle of the pandemic and now my father was part of the statistics, but because he did not really die from COVID-19.

In October of 2020, he had major heart surgery. The surgery caused a massive stroke that nearly killed him and left him in a coma. He eventually woke up from the coma, with one side of his body completely paralyzed. He was unable to speak. He also developed a number of serious infections, including pneumonia. The situation was dire and the doctors didn’t hide that fact from our family.

My dad was being kept alive with a ventilator and other machines. He frequently hallucinated and suffered severe anxiety. Because he could not properly communicate, it was impossible to determine the level of brain damage he may have sustained. My father had never been depressed or severely anxious until now. Doctors said he would never fully recover and would probably never get to go home.

About a week before Christmas, my dad was diagnosed with COVID. This was early enough in the pandemic that a false positive was very common, so we asked for another test, but that never happened.

How could my dad contract COVID if he was in a private specially pressurized room and all the doctors were wearing medical-grade masks? I had many questions and still have no answers.

As his health continued to deteriorate and it looked like he’d never be able to breathe on his own, my family made sure that doctors followed his wishes and disconnected him from the ventilator, which allowed him to finally die and hopefully find some peace.

I was with my mother when the hospital called to ask us if it was OK to list COVID as the cause of death. Since when do they ask? He either died from it or he did not. We had no idea what to say. We weren’t in a position to argue about it. So the cause of death was COVID.

But why wasn’t the cause of death one of the many other illnesses he had? Or the major stroke? Why COVID? Wasn’t it the fact that he was removed from the ventilator?

In the end, my dad’s modest cremation expenses were covered by FEMA because COVID was the official cause of death. A small and sad bit of. . . solace? And hopefully the hospital was able to get money or a new ventilator as a result. I have no idea.

What I do know is that my dad’s death is one of countless others that has contributed to an inflated COVID death toll and it’s not easy to just let that go. And if I challenge it, many will label me a conspiracy theorist. But I know the truth, whatever it is actually worth.